GOP picks challenger to oppose Gillibrand during state convention

GOP picks challenger to oppose Gillibrand during state convention

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Republicans on Friday chose Chele Farley, a New York City private equity executive, as the first designated candidate to run for a statewide position in November’s elections.

Farley will lead the GOP ticket by challenging New York’s junior U.S. senator, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who has held office since January 2009.

More than 120 party representatives from across New York gathered at the Holiday Inn for the first state Republican nominating convention Saratoga Springs has hosted in 50 years.

“Our state is being shortchanged, and New York taxpayers are bearing the brunt of Washington’s unfair decisions,” Farley said in a video, when formally announcing her campaign on Thursday.

New York contributes $40 billion more per year to federal coffers than it gets back, she said.

Farley graduated from Stanford University, where she studied industrial engineering, before joining the financial services industry. She previously worked for UBS Capital and Goldman Sachs, and is currently a partner and managing director at Mistral Capital International, a private equity investment firm specializing in the real estate and energy industries. Farley’s website says she is responsible for executing and overseeing principal investments around the world.

Following her nomination, in open session, GOP delegates gathered behind closed doors to discuss and conduct a straw poll for other statewide candidates, including someone to challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But such choices won’t be made until May, when another convention is held at an undetermined location, party spokesman Nate Soule said.

“The idea here is to bring the party together to get behind one candidate (Farley) and get the party energized to get the vote out in November, which is going to be key in this race against Kirsten Gillibrand,” he said.

Supervisor Jean Raymond, R-Edinburg, was part of Saratoga County’s delegation at the convention along with county GOP Chairman Carl Zeilman, and Scott Kingsley and Jeff Hurt of Wilton.

“I was impressed that she (Farley) seems to have done her homework and has a good grasp on the issues,” Raymond said. “The key to the race is how much hard work and support you get from the grass roots.”

It’s been 20 years since Republicans last held a U.S. Senate seat from New York. Democrat Chuck Schumer, the current Senate Minority Leader, defeated GOP incumbent Al D’Amato in 1998.

State party Chairman Ed Cox, of Suffolk County, said New Yorkers should want a Republican in the Senate, as the GOP currently controls both houses of Congress.

He accused Gillibrand of waffling on a variety of issues, in order to raise her national profile with a possible run for the White House in her future.

“It’s been said that she was Annie Oakley, with respect to gun control, when she was an upstate New York congresswoman,” Cox said. “Now she’s Jane Fonda. On immigration she’s shifted completely. Upstate, she was against illegal immigration. Now she’s for sanctuary cities. She’s just campaigning to be the next president of the United States. She is a show horse, not a work horse. It’s PR (public relations). That’s all she’s interested in, looking good, but not doing the hard work that you should do for New York state.”

Cox said Saratoga was chosen for the convention, following informal meetings of regional party leaders here in the past year or so. Cox said he frequently visited Saratoga Spa State Park when chairing the New York State Council on Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation under former Republican Gov. George Pataki.

The convention was originally scheduled for the Gideon Putnam Hotel, but was moved to the Holiday Inn because of a recent flooding incident that closed the Gideon Putnam for repairs.

The two-day event began Thursday and included a reception attended by U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, whose 22nd District encompasses Central New York. Tenney came under fire in the wake of the Feb. 14 Florida school shootings, by saying, “it’s interesting that so many people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats, but the media doesn’t talk about that either.”

Protesters carrying signs gathered outside the convention Thursday, calling on Tenney to apologize, and for organizers to move the event elsewhere.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, who previously represented Saratoga County, also attended the Thursday reception. Although not expected to run this year, Gibson is often mentioned as a candidate for statewide office in New York, and has previously expressed interest in such opportunities.